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USC Book Club: The Artist's Rule

The Artist's Rule: Nurturing your creative soul with monastic wisdom

By Christine Valters Paintner

Review:

Unlike other books promising to unlock your creativity, the practices in The Artist’s Rule are rooted in monastic spirituality, gently encouraging the reader not to achieve more creative output, but simply to be more present.

Created: Monday, July 2 2012 9:49 AM

Marley: The Original Soundtrack Bob Marley and the Wailers

Marley: The Original Soundtrack
Bob Marley and the Wailers (Tuff Gong, 2012)

Bob Marley, who took reggae music from Jamaica to the world, is one of the pop culture saints of our age—on par with Elvis, Che Guevara, Malcolm X. Marley died of cancer at age 36 in 1981, but his image is better known today than it ever was in his lifetime. Now there is a documentary about Marley’s life (called simply, Marley) and this soundtrack compilation of live and studio recordings to introduce his work to yet another generation.

Danny Duncan Collum teaches writing at Kentucky State University in Frankfort and is the author of four books, including the novel White Boy (Apprentice House 2011).

The Case of Galileo: A Closed Question? By Annibale Fantoli

Annibale Fantoli’s The Case of Galileo: A Closed Question? opens where most Galileo books end—with the aging, nearly blind astronomer kneeling before a panel of seven cardinals as they pronounce him “vehemently suspected of heresy, namely. . . that the sun is the center of the world.” Four centuries later, this scene seems absurd. Lay scholars and church hierarchy disagree about many things, but the earth revolving around the sun is not one of them.

Read: When We Were the Kennedys By Monica Wood

When We Were the Kennedys
By Monica Wood (Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, 2012)

Monica Wood writes that her book When We Were the Kennedys: A Memoir from Mexico, Maine “results from my having been an observant child living in a vibrant place and time.” Amen, especially to the word observant.

Catherine O’Connell-Cahill is a former senior editor at U.S. Catholic.

The Way of Goodness and Holiness: A Spirituality for Pastoral Ministers

Read: Mothers of the Church

Mothers of the Church
By Mike Aquilina & Christopher Bailey (OSV, 2012)

In elementary school I always looked forward to women’s history month each March. Unfortunately, by sixth grade the basic lesson—that in the past women were denied things like voting and jobs just because they were women—was growing a little stale. Things weren’t much better at religious education, where the lessons about women all focused on Mary.

Read: Voting and Holiness

Voting and Holiness
Edited by Nicholas Cafardi (Paulist Press, 2012)

Elections have become something of a cross to bear for American Catholics. Not only is it difficult to find a candidate who does not hold a position at variance with Catholic teaching, the debate over how Catholics should respond to this reality has become increasingly bitter.

Listen: Dr. John's Locked Down

Locked Down
Dr. John
(Nonesuch Records, 2012)

In the deranged days of 1968, New Orleans musician Mac Rebennack decided to join the fun by dubbing himself Dr. John the Night Tripper, taking to the stage in a Mardi Gras Indian-inspired costume and making music thoroughly marinated in his hometown’s Afro-Caribbean musical traditions and religious lore.

Danny Duncan Collum teaches writing at Kentucky State University in Frankfort and is the author of four books, including the novel White Boy (Apprentice House 2011).

Watch: We Have a Pope

Directed by Nanni Moretti (Sundance Selects, 2012)

Nanni Moretti’s lighthearted and melancholic comedy introduces us to a gentle and frail cleric who would not be pope—even though the college of cardinals has just elected him to serve as St. Peter’s successor.